US20220124405A1 - Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content - Google Patents
Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US20220124405A1 US20220124405A1 US17/565,175 US202117565175A US2022124405A1 US 20220124405 A1 US20220124405 A1 US 20220124405A1 US 202117565175 A US202117565175 A US 202117565175A US 2022124405 A1 US2022124405 A1 US 2022124405A1
- Authority
- US
- United States
- Prior art keywords
- media
- streaming
- data
- watermark
- flag
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 35
- 230000004044 response Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 5
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 abstract description 7
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 description 46
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 21
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 14
- 238000003860 storage Methods 0.000 description 11
- 230000006835 compression Effects 0.000 description 10
- 238000007906 compression Methods 0.000 description 10
- 238000009826 distribution Methods 0.000 description 10
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 9
- 239000000284 extract Substances 0.000 description 7
- 238000005259 measurement Methods 0.000 description 5
- 230000003442 weekly effect Effects 0.000 description 5
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 3
- 230000005540 biological transmission Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000003139 buffering effect Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000008878 coupling Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000010168 coupling process Methods 0.000 description 2
- 238000005859 coupling reaction Methods 0.000 description 2
- 235000019800 disodium phosphate Nutrition 0.000 description 2
- 230000000694 effects Effects 0.000 description 2
- 238000012545 processing Methods 0.000 description 2
- VYZAMTAEIAYCRO-UHFFFAOYSA-N Chromium Chemical compound [Cr] VYZAMTAEIAYCRO-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N Silicon Chemical compound [Si] XUIMIQQOPSSXEZ-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 230000003044 adaptive effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000013528 artificial neural network Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000001413 cellular effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 229910052804 chromium Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000011651 chromium Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000006837 decompression Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000011143 downstream manufacturing Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000006872 improvement Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000003780 insertion Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000037431 insertion Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000004973 liquid crystal related substance Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000000737 periodic effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000001902 propagating effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000000717 retained effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000004065 semiconductor Substances 0.000 description 1
- 229910052710 silicon Inorganic materials 0.000 description 1
- 239000010703 silicon Substances 0.000 description 1
- 230000001360 synchronised effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000007704 transition Effects 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/439—Processing of audio elementary streams
- H04N21/4394—Processing of audio elementary streams involving operations for analysing the audio stream, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in audio streams
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q30/00—Commerce
- G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
- G06Q30/0201—Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/24—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests
- H04N21/2407—Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
- H04N21/44204—Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F21/00—Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity
- G06F21/10—Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material ; Digital rights management [DRM]
- G06F21/16—Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G10—MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; ACOUSTICS
- G10L—SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
- G10L19/00—Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis
- G10L19/018—Audio watermarking, i.e. embedding inaudible data in the audio signal
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
- H04L43/04—Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
- H04L43/045—Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation for graphical visualisation of monitoring data
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
- H04L43/06—Generation of reports
- H04L43/062—Generation of reports related to network traffic
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
- H04L63/10—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for controlling access to devices or network resources
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
- H04L65/10—Architectures or entities
- H04L65/102—Gateways
- H04L65/1033—Signalling gateways
-
- H04L65/4076—
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
- H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
- H04L65/61—Network streaming of media packets for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
- H04L65/611—Network streaming of media packets for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio for multicast or broadcast
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
- H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
- H04L65/61—Network streaming of media packets for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio
- H04L65/612—Network streaming of media packets for supporting one-way streaming services, e.g. Internet radio for unicast
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
- H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
- H04L65/65—Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
- H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
- H04L65/75—Media network packet handling
- H04L65/762—Media network packet handling at the source
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L65/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communication
- H04L65/60—Network streaming of media packets
- H04L65/75—Media network packet handling
- H04L65/764—Media network packet handling at the destination
-
- H04L67/22—
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
- H04L67/50—Network services
- H04L67/535—Tracking the activity of the user
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/238—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network, e.g. adapting the transmission rate of a video stream to network bandwidth; Processing of multiplex streams
- H04N21/2389—Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream encrypting
- H04N21/23892—Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream encrypting involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
- H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
- H04N21/24—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests
- H04N21/2405—Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the server, e.g. server load
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
- H04N21/422—Input-only peripherals, i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
- H04N21/42203—Input-only peripherals, i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS] sound input device, e.g. microphone
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/438—Interfacing the downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. retrieving encoded video stream packets from an IP network
- H04N21/4385—Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream decrypting
- H04N21/43853—Multiplex stream processing, e.g. multiplex stream decrypting involving multiplex stream decryption
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
- H04N21/44209—Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
- H04N21/44213—Monitoring of end-user related data
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
- H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
- H04N21/44213—Monitoring of end-user related data
- H04N21/44222—Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity
- H04N21/44224—Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
- H04N21/83—Generation or processing of protective or descriptive data associated with content; Content structuring
- H04N21/835—Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates
- H04N21/8358—Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates involving watermark
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L2463/00—Additional details relating to network architectures or network communication protocols for network security covered by H04L63/00
- H04L2463/101—Additional details relating to network architectures or network communication protocols for network security covered by H04L63/00 applying security measures for digital rights management
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
- H04L67/01—Protocols
- H04L67/02—Protocols based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
- H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
- H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
- H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
- H04N21/466—Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies
- H04N21/4667—Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
Definitions
- This disclosure relates generally to streaming media, and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content.
- media content can be delivered to and presented by a wide variety of media presentation devices, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, smartphones, etc. Because a significant portion of media content is presented via streaming to such devices, monitoring of streaming media content, like the monitoring of broadcasted media content, can provide valuable information to advertisers, content providers, and the like.
- FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system 100 for monitoring streaming media content.
- FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the transcoder of the system of FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an example implementation of the streaming meter of the system of FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 3B is a block diagram of an example implementation of the panel meter of the system of FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 3C is a block diagram of an example implementation of the on device meter of the system of FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the media monitoring facility of the system of FIG. 1 .
- FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example transcoder of FIGS. 1 and/or 2 .
- FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example streaming meter of FIGS. 1 and/or 3A .
- FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example panel meter of FIGS. 1 and/or 3B .
- FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example media monitoring facility of FIGS. 1 and/or 4 .
- FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example processing platform structured to execute the instructions of FIG. 8 to implement the example media monitoring facility of FIGS. 1 and/or 4 .
- Households may contain media presentation devices that can present media from traditional distribution channels (e.g. a broadcast distribution channel) and can also present media from the Internet (e.g. streaming media).
- traditional distribution channels e.g. a broadcast distribution channel
- Internet e.g. streaming media
- AME audience measurement entities
- panel meters also known as people meters.
- the panel meters monitor the audio output of the media presentation devices. Because the panel meter uses the audio output to monitor media presentations, the panel meter can detect media from traditional distribution channels that is presented on a media presentation device and can detect streaming media presented on a media presentation device. Unfortunately, the panel meter is currently unable to determine if the media is from a traditional distribution channel or is streaming media.
- Streaming media is defined to include media data (such as audio and/or video data) transmitted from a media source over a data network to a media device for presentation such that a portion of the media data is presented (possibly after buffering at the media device) while a subsequent portion of the media data is being received (and possibly buffered at the media device).
- media data such as audio and/or video data
- the media source corresponds to Amazon Music, Amazon Video, CBS All Access, Disney+, Google Play Music, Hulu, You Tube, etc.
- the media source may also be known as a content provider
- the media device corresponds to, for example, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile computing device, a television, a smart phone, a mobile phone, an Apple® iPad®, an Apple® iPhone®, an Apple® iPod®, an AndroidTM powered computing device, a Palm® webOS® computing device, etc.
- the data network corresponds to the Internet and/or a private network.
- the media data is transmitted from the media source to the media device using one or more data transport streams established according to one or more existing and/or future network streaming communication protocols, such as Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), HTTP live streaming (HLS), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), etc.
- DASH Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
- HLS HTTP live streaming
- RTP Real-time Transport Protocol
- Some households include a streaming meter in addition to the panel meters.
- the streaming meter monitors the network traffic to and from media presentation devices to detect the presentation of streaming media by the media presentation devices.
- both the panel meter and the streaming meter may report the media exposure event to the audience measurement entity.
- the panel meter and the streaming meter are unaware that the other device is reporting the media presentation. Because both the panel meter and the streaming meter report the same media exposure event, the audience measurement entity may double count the media exposure event from the streaming media, which causes inaccuracies in crediting media exposure events from streaming media.
- monitoring of streaming media content in accordance with examples described herein increases the accuracy of the monitored streaming media.
- a streaming media flag is asserted in a watermark associated with the media and embedded/encoded in the audio data of the streaming media.
- the asserted streaming media flag is detected from the payload of the embedded/encoded watermark.
- the panel meter may discard the media exposure event that is associated with the streaming media flag.
- the panel meter sends the media exposure event and the content of the watermark, with the asserted streaming media flag, to the audience measurement entity. The audience measurement entity will discard (e.g., not use) the media presentation associated with the asserted streaming media flag when it also receives the media exposure event from the streaming meter.
- An example apparatus disclosed herein to monitor streaming media content includes a flag detector to determine if a streaming media flag is asserted in the content of a watermark associated with a media exposure event, the media exposure event being included in panel data from a panel meter, the panel meter to monitor a media presentation device via an audio output channel of the media presentation device.
- a media exposure event is the data collected when media is presented on a media presentation device.
- Media exposure events include, but are not limited to, metering data (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identify presented media), and/or application usage information (e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use of the application, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or user-identifying information (e.g., demographic information, a user identifier, a panelist identifier, a username, etc.), and/or presentation information (e.g., the time/date the content was presented, the location the content was presented, the device type the content was presented on, etc.).
- metering data e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identify presented media
- application usage information e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or
- the example apparatus also includes a data selector to, when the streaming media flag is asserted, discard/not use media exposure events associated with the streaming media flag from the panel data and select/use media exposure events from network traffic reports to credit media presented by the media presentation device, the network traffic reports obtained from a meter that monitors network traffic to and from the media presentation device.
- a report generator creates media exposure reports using the selected media exposure events from the network traffic reports.
- the report generator may also use census data (e.g., user-identifying information) included in the panel data to verify census reporting.
- the flag detector additionally includes locating the first streaming media flag in an unused final distribution code slot of the media exposure watermark associated with a media exposure event.
- the media exposure watermarks in the audio data that is output from the audio output channel are in a first watermarking layer, and the asserted streaming media flag is located in a watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer.
- the apparatus additionally includes a second streaming media flag that is located in the network traffic reports.
- the second streaming media flag is included in an ID3 tag in the network traffic reports.
- the media presentation device is an over the top (OTT) device.
- the example system 100 includes example content provider(s) 105 , an example compression gear 110 , an example segmenter and packager 115 , an example transcoder 120 , an example digital rights manager 125 , an example content streamer 130 , an example network 135 , an example location 140 , an example gateway 145 , two example media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B, an example streaming meter 155 , an example on device meter 158 , two example panel meters 160 A and 160 B, and an example media monitoring facility 165 .
- the example content provider(s) 105 provide the streaming media content to the example compression gear 110 .
- the content provider(s) 105 of the illustrated example correspond to any one or more content providers capable of providing media content for streaming to the example compression gear 110 .
- the media content provided by the content provider(s) 105 can be any type of media content, such as audio content, video content, multimedia content, etc. Additionally, the media content can correspond to live (e.g., broadcast) media content, stored media content (e.g., on-demand content), etc.
- the media provided by the content provider(s) 105 may include watermarks embedded in the video or audio content of the media. The watermark content or payload may identify the media content, identify a source of the media content, and/or otherwise describes and/or is associated with the media content.
- the compression gear 110 employs any appropriate technique(s) to compress and/or otherwise process the received media content into a form suitable for streaming.
- the compression gear 110 may compress the media content in accordance with MPEG 4 audio/video compression.
- the segmenter and packager 115 employs any appropriate technique(s) to segment and package the compressed media content into a form suitable for streaming.
- the segmenter and packager 115 can segment and package the compressed media content into one or more MPEG 2 transport streams for streaming using HTTP live streaming (HLS) or any other past, present and/or future, streaming protocol.
- HLS HTTP live streaming
- the example transcoder 120 receives the transport streams from the example segmenter and packager 115 and extracts, from the media content, metering data that is encoded in a first format.
- the metering data may be in the payload of watermarks that are already embedded/encoded in the media content.
- the transcoder 120 can obtain and extract embedded/encoded audio/video watermarks that were inserted into the media content by the content provider(s) 105 .
- the embedded/encoded audio/video watermarks correspond to the metering data.
- the metering data identifies the media content, identifies a source of the media content, and/or otherwise describes and/or is associated with the media content.
- the transcoder 120 asserts a streaming media flag in the metering data that is in the first format.
- the streaming media flag indicates that the media is being distributed as streaming media.
- the streaming media flag may be asserted in any manner, for example setting a bit to a one or zero in the metering data.
- the streaming media flag is in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark already included in the metering data that is in the first format.
- the streaming media flag is in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data.
- the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data may be in a first watermarking layer using a first set of frequency bands and the second watermark with the streaming media flag may be in a second watermarking layer using a second set of frequency bands.
- the transcoder embeds/encodes the watermark with the asserted streaming media flag back into the audio data of the media content.
- the transcoder 120 transcodes the metering data in the first format into text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to metering data in a second format.
- the transcoder 120 may insert a streaming media flag into the text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to the metering data in the second format, such that a streaming meter can identify the streaming media flag.
- the transcoder 120 then encodes the transcoded metering data (which is in the second format that is decodable by streaming meters) into a metadata channel associated with the transport stream(s) that is(are) to carry the streaming media content.
- the transcoder 120 is implemented as a plug-in based on a software development kit (SDK) provided by the entity that embedded the audio/video watermarks in the media content.
- SDK software development kit
- the transcoder 120 can employ functionality provided by the SDK to extract and decode audio/video watermark(s) embedded in the media content to obtain the payload data carried by the watermark(s) and insert and encode audio/video watermark(s) that include the asserted streaming media flag into the media content.
- the transcoder 120 inserts the payload data obtained from the watermark(s) as ID3 tag metadata and/or other metadata in the transport stream(s) that is (are) to stream the media content in accordance with the HLS or other appropriate streaming protocol.
- FIG. 2 Another example implementation of the transcoder 120 is illustrated in FIG. 2 , which is described in greater detail below.
- the transcoder 120 is implemented as a plug-in or other application/device associated with or executed by one or more of the compression gear 110 , the segmenter and packager 115 , the digital rights manager 125 and/or the content streamer 130 . In some examples, the transcoder 120 is implemented by an apparatus separate from the compression gear 110 , the segmenter and packager 115 , the digital rights manager 125 and the content streamer 130
- the digital rights manager 125 encrypts and/or otherwise protects, in accordance with any appropriate digital rights management technique and/or protocol, the media content to be streamed.
- the content streamer 130 employs any appropriate technique(s) to select and stream the media content to a requesting device. For example, the content streamer 130 can select media content that has been MPEG 4 compressed, segmented and packaged into one or more MPEG 2 transport streams, and encrypted for digital rights management, and then stream the content, across network 135 , to location 140 using HLS or any other streaming protocol.
- the compression gear 110 , the segmenter and packager 115 and/or the digital rights manager 125 prepare content for streaming regardless of whether (e.g., prior to) a request is received.
- the content streamer 130 prepares a transport stream for streaming the already-prepared content when a request is received from location 140 .
- the compression gear 110 , the segmenter and packager 115 and/or the digital rights manager 125 prepare the content for streaming in response to a request received from location 140 .
- Location 140 may be a home, an office, a restaurant, or any place media can be presented.
- Location 140 includes a gateway 145 that receives the streaming media from content streamer 130 .
- gateway 145 distributes the streaming media to one or more of the two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B using a wireless network connection.
- gateway 145 may us a wired connection (e.g. a LAN connection) to distribute streaming media to one or more of the two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B of the illustrated example are computing devices that are capable of presenting streaming media content provided by the content streamer 130 via the network 135 .
- the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B may be, for example, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile computing device, a television, a Roku, an Apple® TV, an Amazon Fire TV, a Chromecast, a smart phone, a mobile phone, an Apple® iPad®, an Apple® iPhone®, an Apple® iPod®, an AndroidTM powered computing device, a Palm® webOS® computing device, etc.
- the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B may be over the top (OTT) devices.
- the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B include one or more executable media players to present the streaming media content provided by the content streamer 130 .
- the media player(s) available to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B may be implemented in Adobe® Flash® (e.g., provided in a SWF file), may be implemented in hypertext markup language (HTML) version 5 (HTML5), may be implemented in Google® Chromium®, may be implemented according to the Open Source Media Framework (OSMF), may be implemented according to a device or operating system provider's media player application programming interface (API), may be implemented on a device or operating system provider's media player framework (e.g., the Apple® iOS® MPMoviePlayer software), etc., or any combination thereof. While two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B are illustrated, any number and/or type(s) of media presentation devices may be included in the system 100 .
- Location 140 includes an example streaming meter 155 that monitors the network communications of the two example media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- streaming meter 155 monitors a home wireless networks (e.g., WiFi networks, etc.) to generate media exposure events of streamed media presented at the two example media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the streaming meter 155 may monitor a local area network (LAN) that couples the gateway 145 to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B to generate media exposure events of streamed media presented at the two example media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- LAN local area network
- the streaming meter 155 of the illustrated example decodes metering data included in a metadata channel (or channels) associated with (e.g., provided prior to or accompanying and flowing with) the transport channel(s) providing the streaming media content to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- a metadata channel decoded by the streaming meter 155 can correspond to an external metadata channel external to the transport stream carrying the media content, or an internal metadata channel comprising one or more data fields of the transport stream carrying the media content.
- An example external metadata channel includes an M3U file or other text file associated with a transport stream carrying the streaming media content and containing metering data transcoded by the transcoder 120 into a text or other appropriate data format.
- the streaming meter 155 extracts and decodes ID3 tag(s) that contain the metering data.
- the streaming meter 155 of the illustrated example stores the decoded metering data (as well as any other metering information captured by the streaming meter, timestamps added by the streaming meter 155 to the decoded metering data and/or the other metering information, etc.) for reporting to the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the streaming meter 155 reports its stored metering data (as well as any other metering information, timestamps, etc.) using an HTTP request sent to an HTTP interface of the media monitoring facility 165 .
- An example implementation of the streaming meter 155 is illustrated in FIG. 3A , which is described in greater detail below.
- the media presentation devices 150 A and/or 150 B may include an on device meter, for example on device meter 158 .
- the on device meter may also be used to detect the presentation of streaming media on a media presentation device.
- the on device meter 158 only monitors the media presentation device on which it is installed.
- the on device meter 158 is software/firmware that executes on a media presentation device, for example media presentation device 150 A.
- the on device meter 158 tracks the network communications of media presentation device 150 A.
- the on device meter 158 of the illustrated example decodes metering data included in a metadata channel (or channels) associated with (e.g., provided prior to or accompanying and flowing with) the transport channel(s) providing the streaming media content to the media presentation device 150 A.
- a metadata channel decoded by the on device meter 158 can correspond to an external metadata channel external to the transport stream carrying the media content, or an internal metadata channel comprising one or more data fields of the transport stream carrying the media content.
- An example external metadata channel includes an M3U file or other text file associated with a transport stream carrying the streaming media content and containing metering data transcoded by the transcoder 120 into a text or other appropriate data format.
- the on device meter 158 extracts and decodes ID3 tag(s) that contain the metering data.
- the on device meter 158 of the illustrated example stores the decoded metering data (as well as any other metering information captured by the on device meter, timestamps added by the on device meter 158 to the decoded metering data and/or the other metering information, etc.) for reporting to the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the on device meter 158 reports its stored metering data (as well as any other metering information, timestamps, etc.) using an HTTP request sent to an HTTP interface of the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the example system 100 includes panel meters 160 A and 160 B at location 140 that monitor the audio output channels of respective example media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B to collect panel data.
- the panel meters 160 A and 160 B may monitor the audio output channel using a direct connection, or indirectly using a microphone.
- Panel meters 160 A and 160 B decode the panel data and detect watermarks embedded/encoded in the audio output of the presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the watermarks may include an asserted streaming media flag when the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B are presenting media from a streaming source.
- panel meters 160 A and 160 B create media exposure events using the panel data, the type of media presentation device, the location 140 , the date, etc.
- the media exposure events are sent to the media monitoring facility 165 , as describe more fully below with respect to FIG. 4 , across network 135 .
- the panel meters 160 A and 160 B do not send the media exposure events to the media monitoring facility 165 .
- An example implementation of the panel meter 160 A is illustrated in FIG. 3B , which is described in greater detail below.
- FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example transcoder 120 of system 100 in FIG. 1 .
- the example transcoder 120 of FIG. 2 includes an example transport stream decoder 205 to decode transport stream(s) carrying streaming media content to obtain the media content being streamed to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the transport stream decoder 205 can decode an MPEG 2 transport 2 encapsulating MPEG 4 compressed media content to obtain the encapsulated MPEG 4 content, and then perform MPEG 4 decompression to obtain the uncompressed audio/video content.
- the example transcoder 120 of FIG. 2 also includes an example metering data extractor 210 to extract metering data having a first format from the uncompressed media content obtained from the transport stream decoder 205 .
- the metering data extractor 210 can implement functionality provided by an SDK to extract one or more audio watermarks, one or more video (e.g., image) watermarks, etc., embedded in the uncompressed audio/video content obtained from the transport stream decoder 205 .
- the uncompressed audio/video content may correspond to uncompressed pulse code modulation (PCM) audio data or other types of audio data, uncompressed video/image data, etc.
- PCM pulse code modulation
- the example transcoder 120 of FIG. 2 further includes an example metering data transcoder 215 .
- the metering data transcoder 215 can determine (e.g., decode) the metering information (e.g., the watermark payload data, such as content identifying information, source identifying information, etc.) carried by a watermark extracted by the metering data extractor 210 and convert this metering information (also referred to as watermark payload data) into a text or binary format for inclusion in an M3U8 file or other data (e.g., text, binary, etc.) file for transmission as metadata (e.g., such as with a playlist or electronic program guide) accompanying the streaming media content.
- the metering information e.g., the watermark payload data, such as content identifying information, source identifying information, etc.
- the metering data transcoder 215 can determine (e.g., decode) the metering information (e.g., the watermark payload data, such as content identifying information, source identifying information, etc.) carried by a watermark extracted by the metering data
- the metering data transcoder 215 can convert the extracted metering information (i.e., watermark payload data) into a binary or other appropriate format for inclusion in one or more data fields capable of carrying metadata in the transport stream(s) providing the streaming media content to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the metering data transcoder 215 can convert watermark payload data corresponding to the metering information to ID3 tag metadata for insertion in the transport stream(s) that is (are) to stream the media content in accordance with the HLS or other appropriate streaming protocol.
- transcoding that can be employed by the metering data transcoder 215 to transcode metering data into a format decodable by the streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,827,312 (“METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSCODING METADATA” to Ramaswamy et al.), which issued on Nov. 2, 2010, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/442,758 (“METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIA CONTENT AT A CONTENT DISPLAY SITE” to Deliyannis et al.), which was filed on Feb. 14, 2011, U.S. Pat.
- the transcoder 120 includes a flag inserter 220 .
- the flag inserter 220 asserts a streaming media flag in the payload of a watermark included in the metering data that is in the first format.
- the asserted streaming media flag indicates that the media is being distributed as streaming media.
- the streaming media flag is located in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark already included in the metering data that is in the first format.
- the streaming media flag is located in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data.
- the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data may be in a first watermarking layer using a first set of frequency bands and the second watermark with the streaming media flag may be in a second watermarking layer using a second set of frequency bands.
- the streaming media flag can be asserted using any method, for example, setting a bit in the content of a watermark to a one or a zero. Once the streaming media flag has been asserted, the flag inserter 220 embeds/encodes the watermark back into the audio data of the media, such that a panel meter can detect the asserted streaming media flag in the audio data of the media.
- the flag inserter 220 may also assert a streaming media flag in the text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to metering data in the second format, such that the streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 can also identify the streaming media flag.
- the transcoder 120 of FIG. 2 includes an example metering data encryptor 225 that employs any appropriate encryption to encrypt the metering data determined by the metering data transcoder 215 .
- the metering data encryptor 225 can encrypt the metering data using public or private key encryption such that the decryption key(s) are known and protected by the media monitoring facility 165 . Inclusion of the metering data encryptor 225 can prevent unauthorized eavesdroppers from accessing the transcoded metering data identifying or otherwise associated with the streaming media content, thereby securing the privacy of users consuming the streaming media content.
- the transcoder 120 includes an example transport stream encoder 230 to re-encode the transport stream(s) carrying the streaming media content to include the metering data determined by the metering data transcoder 215 (and encrypted by the metering data encryptor 225 , as appropriate).
- the transport stream encoder 230 can encode the metering data into an external metadata channel, such as by encoding an M3U8 or other data file to contain the metering data and to be associated with (e.g., included in, appended to, sent prior to, etc.) the transport stream(s) that are to provide the streaming media content to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the transport stream encoder 230 can encode the metering data into an internal metadata channel, such as by encoding metering data that is in a binary or other appropriate data format into one or more data fields of the transport stream(s) that is(are) capable of carrying metadata.
- the transport stream encoder 230 can insert ID3 tag metadata corresponding to the metering data into the transport stream(s) that is (are) to stream the media content in accordance with the HLS or other appropriate streaming protocol.
- FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an example streaming meter 155 from system 100 of FIG. 1 .
- streaming meter 155 includes a network traffic monitor 305 A and a network traffic reporter 310 A.
- the streaming meter 155 generates records of network communications transmitted between the two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B and gateway 145 .
- the streaming meter 155 differentiates between the two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B by snooping the media access control address (MAC address) of the respective presentation device.
- MAC address media access control address
- any other parameters related to the network traffic records may be determined (e.g., MAC address of the destination network traffic, Internet Protocol address (IP address) of the source and/or destination of network traffic, port name of the source and/or destination of network traffic, application related data indicated in the network traffic, etc.).
- IP address Internet Protocol address
- the determined parameters can be used to determine the origin device of each records.
- the communications between the two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B and gateway 145 are wireless communications snooped by a monitoring radio included in the network traffic monitor 305 A.
- the communications transmitted between the two media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B and gateway 145 may be across a local area network (LAN) that the streaming meter 155 is coupled with.
- the streaming meter 155 processes the monitored traffic to create records of the network traffic.
- the network traffic reports include media exposure events.
- the network traffic monitor 305 passes the network traffic reports to the network traffic reporter 310 A.
- the network traffic reporter 310 A sends the network traffic reports to the media monitoring facility 165 , as describe more fully below with respect to FIG. 4 .
- the network traffic reporter 310 A may generate a GET or POST request including the metering data as a parameter of the request.
- any other method of transmitting the network traffic reports to the media monitoring facility 165 may be used.
- the network traffic reports may be transmitted at any interval.
- the network traffic reports may be transmitted as it is collected (e.g., streamed), may be transmitted when a certain amount of network traffic reports is collected, when an available memory space is filled or reaches a threshold capacity (e.g., 90% or some other percentage being full), when a particular event is detected (e.g., when presentation of the media content ends, when new media content is presented, etc.), whenever new network traffic reports are obtained, etc.
- the network traffic reporter 310 A may transmit a network traffic report once for each time media is presented or may transmit network traffic reports multiple times (e.g., every time an event occurs, every time identifying information changes (e.g., when the media content includes metering data that change throughout the media content, etc.).
- FIG. 3B is a block diagram of an example panel meter 160 A from system 100 of FIG. 1 .
- Panel meter 160 A includes a panel data extractor 305 B and a panel data reporter 310 B.
- the panel data extractor 305 B extracts the content of the payloads from watermarks embedded/encoded in the audio output from the audio output channel of media presentation device 150 A.
- the panel data extractor 305 B creates media exposure events using the extracted content from the payloads from watermarks, for example metering data (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identify presented media), and/or application usage information (e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use of the application, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or user-identifying information (e.g., demographic information, a user identifier, a panelist identifier, a username, etc.), and/or presentation information (e.g., the time/date the content was presented, the location the content was presented, the device type the content was presented on, etc.).
- the panel data extractor 305 B includes the media exposure events in the panel data.
- the panel data extractor 305 B passes the panel data to the panel data reporter 310 B.
- the panel data reporter 310 B sends the panel data to the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the panel data reporter 310 B may generate a GET or POST request including the panel data as a parameter of the request.
- any other method of transmitting the panel data to the media monitoring facility 165 may be used.
- the panel data may be transmitted at any interval.
- the panel data may be transmitted as it is collected (e.g., streamed), may be transmitted when a certain amount of panel data is collected, when an available memory space is filled or reaches a threshold capacity (e.g., 90% or some other percentage being full), when a particular event is detected (e.g., when presentation of the media content ends, when new media content is presented, etc.), whenever new panel data are obtained, etc.
- the panel data reporter 310 B may transmit panel data once for each media content or may transmit panel data multiple times (e.g., every time an event occurs, every time identifying information changes (e.g., when the media content includes metering data that change throughout the media content, etc.).
- FIG. 3C is a block diagram of an example on device meter 158 from system 100 of FIG. 1 .
- on device meter 158 includes a network traffic monitor 305 C and a network traffic reporter 310 C.
- the on device meter 158 generates records of network communications transmitted between the media presentation device 150 A and gateway 145 .
- the communications between the media presentation device 150 A and gateway 145 is wireless communications.
- the communications transmitted between the media presentation device 150 A and gateway 145 may be across a local area network (LAN).
- the on device meter 158 processes the monitored traffic to create records of the network traffic.
- the network traffic reports include media exposure events.
- the network traffic monitor 305 C passes the network traffic reports to the network traffic reporter 310 C.
- the network traffic reporter 310 C sends the network traffic reports to the media monitoring facility 165 , as describe more fully below with respect to FIG. 4 .
- the network traffic reporter 310 C may generate a GET or POST request including the metering data as a parameter of the request.
- any other method of transmitting the network traffic reports to the media monitoring facility 165 may be used.
- the network traffic reports may be transmitted at any interval.
- the network traffic reports may be transmitted as it is collected (e.g., streamed), may be transmitted when a certain amount of network traffic reports is collected, when an available memory space is filled or reaches a threshold capacity (e.g., 90% or some other percentage being full), when a particular event is detected (e.g., when presentation of the media content ends, when new media content is presented, etc.), whenever new network traffic reports are obtained, etc.
- the network traffic reporter 310 C may transmit a network traffic report once for each time media is presented or may transmit network traffic reports multiple times (e.g., every time an event occurs, every time identifying information changes (e.g., when the media content includes metering data that change throughout the media content, etc.).
- FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example media monitoring facility 165 of system 100 from FIG. 1 .
- the media monitoring facility 165 includes an example data collector 405 , an example flag detector 410 , an example data selector 415 and an example report generator 420 .
- the example data collector 405 receives the network traffic reports from the network traffic reporter 310 A of the streaming meter 155 of FIG. 3A .
- the example data collector 405 passes the network traffic reports to the example flag detector 410 .
- the example data collector 405 may receive network traffic reports from multiple network traffic reporters in different locations.
- the example data collector 405 also receives the panel data from the example panel data reporter 310 B of the example panel meter 160 A of FIG. 3B .
- the example data collector 405 may also receive panel data from panel meter 160 B.
- the example data collector 405 passes the panel data to the example flag detector 410 .
- FIG. 1 e.g. location 140
- the example data collector 405 may receive panel data from multiple panel data reporters in different locations.
- the example data collector 405 also receives the network traffic reports from the example on device meter 158 of FIG. 1 .
- the example data collector 405 passes the network traffic reports to the example flag detector 410 .
- the example data collector 405 may receive network traffic reports from multiple on device meters in different locations.
- the example flag detector 410 receives the network traffic reports and the panel data from the example data collector 405 . As explained above, the example flag detector 410 may receive network traffic reports and panel data from multiple locations. The example flag detector 410 sorts the receive network traffic reports and the panel data by location. In some examples, the location of the network traffic reports can be determined using the identity of the streaming meter 155 and/or the identity of the on device meter 158 , and the location of the panel data can be determined by the location of the panel meter reported in the panel data. Any other means for determining the locations of the streaming meter and the panel meter may be used.
- the flag detector 410 determines that a streaming meter and/or an on device meter is located at the same location as a panel meter.
- the example flag detector 410 may receive a media exposure event from the streaming meter and/or an on device meter, and a panel meter.
- a streaming meter and an on device meter only monitors media that is streamed to media presentation devices.
- a panel meter can monitor media that is streamed to a media presentation device and media that is broadcast to the media presentation device.
- streaming media events that are monitored by the panel meter may also be monitored by a streaming meter and/or an on device meter at the same location.
- flag detector 410 may receive a media exposure event included in the network traffic reports from the example streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 when monitoring the media presentation device 150 A when it is presenting streaming media.
- the flag detector 410 may also receive a media exposure event included in the panel data from the example panel meter 160 A when monitoring the media presentation device 150 A when it is presenting streaming media.
- the flag detector 410 determines if the panel data for a media exposure event includes an asserted streaming media flag.
- the asserted streaming media flag indicates that the media corresponding to the media exposure event was streamed to the media presentation device.
- the streaming media flag may be located in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark included in the panel data.
- the streaming media flag may be located in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark.
- the example flag detector 410 sends an indication that an asserted streaming media flag associated with a media exposure event was detected, to the data selector 415 .
- the example data selector 415 discards/does not use the media exposure events from the panel data when the streaming media flag is asserted in the panel data for the media exposure event and a streaming meter and/or an on device meter is at the same location as the panel meter.
- the example data selector 415 sends the census data from the panel meter for the media exposure event to the report generator 420 even though the media exposure event was discarded/not used.
- the census data may be used to verify census reports.
- the data selector 415 passes the media exposure events from the network traffic report to the report generator.
- the example data selector 415 does not discard media exposure events from the panel data when a streaming media flag is not asserted in the panel data for the media exposure event. Instead, the example data selector 415 passes the media exposure events from the panel data to the report generator.
- the example report generator 420 receives the media exposure events, as well as any census data, from the data selector 415 .
- the report generator creates reports of media presented at the different monitored locations.
- the reports may be created daily, weekly, monthly, or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for a report.
- While an example manner of implementing the media monitoring facility of FIG. 1 is illustrated in FIG. 4 , one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, the example data collector 405 , the example flag detector 410 , the example data selector 415 , the example report generator 420 and/or, more generally, the example media monitoring facility 165 of FIG. 4 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware.
- any of the example data collector 405 , the example flag detector 410 , the example data selector 415 , and the example report generator 420 and/or, more generally, the example media monitoring facility 165 could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), programmable controller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).
- At least one of the example, data collector 405 , the example flag detector 410 , the example data selector 415 , and the example report generator 420 is/are hereby expressly defined to include a non-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. including the software and/or firmware.
- the example media monitoring facility 165 of FIG. 4 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 4 , and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices.
- the phrase “in communication,” including variations thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirect communication through one or more intermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g., wired) communication and/or constant communication, but rather additionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals, scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events.
- FIG. 4 A flowchart representative of example hardware logic, machine readable instructions, hardware implemented state machines, and/or any combination thereof for implementing the media monitoring facility 165 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG. 4 .
- the machine readable instructions may be an executable program or portion of an executable program for execution by a computer processor such as the processor 912 shown in the example processor platform 900 discussed below in connection with FIG. 9 .
- the program may be embodied in software stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 912 , but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 912 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware.
- a non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor 912 , but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 912 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware.
- the example program is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 8 , many other methods of implementing the example media monitoring facility 165 may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of
- any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation without executing software or firmware.
- hardware circuits e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.
- FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 may be implemented using executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information).
- a non-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.
- A, B, and/or C refers to any combination or subset of A, B, C such as (1) A alone, (2) B alone, (3) C alone, (4) A with B, (5) A with C, (6) B with C, and (7) A with B and with C.
- the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B.
- the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B.
- the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B.
- the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B.
- FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example transcoder 120 of FIG. 2 .
- the example machine readable instructions 500 of FIG. 5 begin at block 505 at which the transcoder 120 receives a transport stream carrying media content to be streamed to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the transport stream decoder 205 of the transcoder 120 decodes the transport stream to obtain the (e.g., uncompressed) media content being streamed to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the metering data extractor 210 of the transcoder 120 extracts metering data having a first format (e.g., such as one or more embedded audio/video watermarks) from the decoded (e.g., uncompressed) media content obtained at block 510 .
- the metering data transcoder 215 of the transcoder 120 transcodes the metering data in the first format obtained at block 515 to form metering data having a second format (e.g., a text, binary or other data format) that is decodable by the streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 .
- a second format e.g., a text, binary or other data format
- the flag inserter 220 of the transcoder 120 inserts an asserted streaming media flag into the metering data that is in the first format.
- the streaming media flag indicates that the media is being distributed as streaming media.
- the flag inserter 220 asserts the streaming media flag in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark already included in the metering data that is in the first format.
- the flag inserter 220 asserts the streaming media flag in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data in a first watermarking layer.
- the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data may be in a first watermarking layer using a first set of frequency bands and the second watermark with the streaming media flag may be in a second watermarking layer using a second set of frequency bands.
- the flag inserter 220 embeds the watermark with the asserted streaming media flag back into the audio data of the media content.
- the flag inserter 220 may insert a streaming media flag into text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to metering data in the second format, such that the streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 can identify the streaming media flag.
- the transport stream encoder 230 of the transcoder 120 re-encodes the transport stream that is to carry the streaming media content to include the metering data in a metadata channel to be associated with the transport stream.
- the transcoder 120 sends the re-encoded transport stream (and the metadata channel carrying the transcoded metering data) to any other downstream processing elements for streaming to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B. Execution of the example machine readable instructions 500 then ends.
- FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example streaming meter 155 of FIG. 3A .
- the example machine readable instructions 600 of FIG. 6 begin execution at block 605 where the network traffic monitor 305 A of streaming meter 155 monitors the network traffic between gateway 145 and the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- the network coupling the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B to gateway 145 is a wireless network (e.g., WiFi networks, etc.).
- the network traffic monitor 305 A may monitor a local area network (LAN) that couples the gateway 145 to the media presentation devices 150 A and 150 B.
- LAN local area network
- the network traffic reports may be sent to the media monitoring facility 165 periodically (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for network traffic reports, the start or end of a media exposure event, or the like. Execution of the example machine readable instructions 600 then ends.
- FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may also be executed to implement the example on device meter 158 of FIG. 3A .
- the example machine readable instructions 600 of FIG. 6 begin execution at block 605 where the network traffic monitor 305 C of on device meter 158 monitors the network traffic between gateway 145 and the media presentation device 150 A.
- the network coupling the media presentation device 150 A to gateway 145 is a wireless network (e.g., WiFi networks, etc.).
- the network traffic monitor 305 C may monitor a local area network (LAN) that couples the gateway 145 to the media presentation device 150 A.
- LAN local area network
- the network traffic reports may be sent to the media monitoring facility 165 periodically (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for network traffic reports, the start or end of a media exposure event, or the like. Execution of the example machine readable instructions 600 then ends.
- FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example panel meter 160 A of FIG. 3B .
- the example machine readable instructions 700 of FIG. 7 begin execution at block 705 where the panel data extractor 305 B of panel meter 160 A monitors the audio output channel of media presentation device 150 A to capture panel data.
- the panel meter may monitor the audio output channel of media presentation device 150 A using a direct connection, or indirectly using a microphone.
- the panel data extractor 305 B detects watermarks embedded in the audio output and extracts the watermark's payloads to include in the panel data.
- panel data is sent to the panel data reporter 310 B of panel meter 160 A.
- panel data reporter 310 B sends the panel data to the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the panel data may be sent to the media monitoring facility 165 periodically (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for panel data, the start or end of a media exposure event, or the like. Execution of the example machine readable instructions 700 then ends.
- FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the example media monitoring facility 165 of FIG. 4 .
- the example machine readable instructions 800 of FIG. 8 begin execution at block 805 where the data collector 405 of the media monitoring facility 165 obtains the network traffic reports from the streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 , and the panel data from the panel meter 160 A.
- the data collector 405 passes the network traffic reports and the panel data to the flag detector 410 of the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the flag detector 410 of the media monitoring facility 165 sorts the network traffic reports and the panel data by location.
- a location includes a network traffic report and panel data, it indicates that the location includes both a streaming meter, for example streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 , and a panel meter, for example panel meters 160 A and/or 160 B.
- a location includes both a streaming meter and a panel meter, flow continues at 820 .
- a location only has network traffic reports or panel data, but not both network traffic reports and panel data, it indicates a location that only has one type of meter, for example, a panel meter or a streaming meter.
- the execution of the example machine readable instructions 800 ends.
- the flag detector 410 determines if the panel data, from the location, includes an asserted streaming media flag.
- the streaming media flag may be located in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark included in the panel data.
- the media exposure watermark may be located in a first watermarking layer and the streaming media flag may be located in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer.
- the data selector 415 discards the media exposure event from the panel data associated with the asserted streaming media flag. Because the panel data is from a location that has both types of meters, and the panel data has a streaming media flag, the data selector 415 will have received duplicate media exposure events (e.g., a media exposure event from streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 , and a media exposure event from panel meter 160 A). In some examples, the data selector 415 discards the duplicate media exposure event from the panel data and retains the media exposure event from the network traffic report. In other examples, the data selector 415 may discard the duplicate media exposure event from the network traffic report and retain the media exposure event from the panel meter.
- duplicate media exposure events e.g., a media exposure event from streaming meter 155 and/or the on device meter 158 , and a media exposure event from panel meter 160 A.
- the data selector 415 discards the duplicate media exposure event from the panel data and retains the media exposure event from the network traffic
- the data selector 415 passes the media exposure event from the network traffic report from the location, to the report generator 420 of the media monitoring facility 165 .
- the census data from the media exposure event in the panel data is also passed to the report generator 420 , even though the media exposure event from the panel data is discarded.
- the report generator 420 may use the census data from the panel meter. For example, the report generator 420 may use the census data to verify census reports.
- the report generator 420 may generate reports of media presented at the different monitored locations. Because the duplicate media exposure event from the panel meter 160 A was discarded, the reports will be more accurate than if the duplicate media exposure event had been retained/counted. The reports may be created daily, weekly, monthly, or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for a report. The execution of the example machine readable instructions 800 ends.
- Panel data that does not contain a streaming media flag, or an asserted streaming media flag indicates that the media was not streamed to the media presentation device, but instead was live (e.g., broadcast) media content, stored media content (e.g., on-demand content), etc.
- live media content e.g., broadcast
- stored media content e.g., on-demand content
- neither the streaming meter 155 or the on device meter 158 would detect the media exposure event. Therefore, the media exposure event in the panel data would not be a duplicate media exposure event. Therefore, at block 840 , the data selector 415 passes the media exposure event from the panel data to the report generator 420 . Flow continues in block 835 as described above.
- FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 900 structured to execute the instructions of FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 to implement the media monitoring facility 165 of FIG. 4 .
- the processor platform 900 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, a self-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPadTM), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, or any other type of computing device.
- a self-learning machine e.g., a neural network
- a mobile device e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPadTM
- PDA personal digital assistant
- the processor platform 900 of the illustrated example includes a processor 912 .
- the processor 912 of the illustrated example is hardware.
- the processor 912 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs, or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer.
- the hardware processor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device.
- the processor implements the example data collector 405 , the example flag detector 410 , the example data selector 415 , and the example report generator 420 .
- the processor 912 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 913 (e.g., a cache).
- the processor 912 of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including a volatile memory 914 and a non-volatile memory 916 via a bus 918 .
- the volatile memory 914 may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random access memory device.
- the non-volatile memory 916 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 914 , 916 is controlled by a memory controller.
- the processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes an interface circuit 920 .
- the interface circuit 920 may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), a Bluetooth® interface, a near field communication (NFC) interface, and/or a PCI express interface.
- one or more input devices 922 are connected to the interface circuit 920 .
- the input device(s) 922 permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor 1012 .
- the input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.
- One or more output devices 924 are also connected to the interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example.
- the output devices 924 can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printer and/or speaker.
- display devices e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.
- the interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor.
- the interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a network interface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network 926 .
- the communication can be via, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, a satellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephone system, etc.
- DSL digital subscriber line
- the processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes one or more mass storage devices 928 for storing software and/or data.
- mass storage devices 928 include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives.
- the machine executable instructions 932 of FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 may be stored in the mass storage device 928 , in the volatile memory 914 , in the non-volatile memory 916 , and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.
- example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that discard duplicate media exposure events from locations that include both a streaming meter and a panel meter.
- the disclosed methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture improve the accuracy of using a computing device by removing duplicate media exposure events from media presentation reports. By removing duplicate media exposure events, the accuracy of the media presentation reports is increased.
- the disclosed methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture are accordingly directed to one or more improvement(s) in the functioning of a computer.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Multimedia (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Strategic Management (AREA)
- Finance (AREA)
- Development Economics (AREA)
- Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
- Social Psychology (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
- Data Mining & Analysis (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Computing Systems (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Economics (AREA)
- General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
- Software Systems (AREA)
- Computational Linguistics (AREA)
- Audiology, Speech & Language Pathology (AREA)
- Human Computer Interaction (AREA)
- Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
- Technology Law (AREA)
- Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
- Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
- Reverberation, Karaoke And Other Acoustics (AREA)
Abstract
Description
- This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/068,458, which is titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR STREAMING MEDIA CONTENT,” and which was filed on Oct. 12, 2020, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/224,533, which is titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR STREAMING MEDIA CONTENT,” and which was filed on Dec. 18, 2018. Priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/068,458 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/224,533 is claimed. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/068,458 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/224,533 are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their respective entireties.
- This disclosure relates generally to streaming media, and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content.
- In recent years, media content can be delivered to and presented by a wide variety of media presentation devices, such as desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, smartphones, etc. Because a significant portion of media content is presented via streaming to such devices, monitoring of streaming media content, like the monitoring of broadcasted media content, can provide valuable information to advertisers, content providers, and the like.
-
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of anexample system 100 for monitoring streaming media content. -
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the transcoder of the system ofFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 3A is a block diagram of an example implementation of the streaming meter of the system ofFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 3B is a block diagram of an example implementation of the panel meter of the system ofFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 3C is a block diagram of an example implementation of the on device meter of the system ofFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example implementation of the media monitoring facility of the system ofFIG. 1 . -
FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example transcoder ofFIGS. 1 and/or 2 . -
FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example streaming meter ofFIGS. 1 and/or 3A . -
FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example panel meter ofFIGS. 1 and/or 3B . -
FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions that may be executed to implement the example media monitoring facility ofFIGS. 1 and/or 4 . -
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example processing platform structured to execute the instructions ofFIG. 8 to implement the example media monitoring facility ofFIGS. 1 and/or 4 . - Households may contain media presentation devices that can present media from traditional distribution channels (e.g. a broadcast distribution channel) and can also present media from the Internet (e.g. streaming media).
- Many audience measurement entities (AME) monitor households using one or more panel meters (also known as people meters). The panel meters monitor the audio output of the media presentation devices. Because the panel meter uses the audio output to monitor media presentations, the panel meter can detect media from traditional distribution channels that is presented on a media presentation device and can detect streaming media presented on a media presentation device. Unfortunately, the panel meter is currently unable to determine if the media is from a traditional distribution channel or is streaming media.
- Streaming media is defined to include media data (such as audio and/or video data) transmitted from a media source over a data network to a media device for presentation such that a portion of the media data is presented (possibly after buffering at the media device) while a subsequent portion of the media data is being received (and possibly buffered at the media device). In some examples, the media source corresponds to Amazon Music, Amazon Video, CBS All Access, Disney+, Google Play Music, Hulu, You Tube, etc. (the media source may also be known as a content provider), the media device corresponds to, for example, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a mobile computing device, a television, a smart phone, a mobile phone, an Apple® iPad®, an Apple® iPhone®, an Apple® iPod®, an Android™ powered computing device, a Palm® webOS® computing device, etc., and the data network corresponds to the Internet and/or a private network. In some examples, the media data is transmitted from the media source to the media device using one or more data transport streams established according to one or more existing and/or future network streaming communication protocols, such as Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH), HTTP live streaming (HLS), Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP), etc.
- Some households include a streaming meter in addition to the panel meters. The streaming meter monitors the network traffic to and from media presentation devices to detect the presentation of streaming media by the media presentation devices. When both the panel meter and the streaming meter are monitoring the same media presentation device while the media presentation device is presenting streaming media, both the streaming meter and the panel meter may report the media exposure event to the audience measurement entity. The panel meter and the streaming meter are unaware that the other device is reporting the media presentation. Because both the panel meter and the streaming meter report the same media exposure event, the audience measurement entity may double count the media exposure event from the streaming media, which causes inaccuracies in crediting media exposure events from streaming media. As such, monitoring of streaming media content in accordance with examples described herein increases the accuracy of the monitored streaming media.
- Methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture to monitor streaming media content are disclosed herein that prevent the double counting of media exposure events. In some examples, a streaming media flag is asserted in a watermark associated with the media and embedded/encoded in the audio data of the streaming media. In some examples, as the panel meter monitors the audio data from the streaming media, the asserted streaming media flag is detected from the payload of the embedded/encoded watermark. When the panel meter detects the asserted streaming media flag, the panel meter may discard the media exposure event that is associated with the streaming media flag. In other examples, the panel meter sends the media exposure event and the content of the watermark, with the asserted streaming media flag, to the audience measurement entity. The audience measurement entity will discard (e.g., not use) the media presentation associated with the asserted streaming media flag when it also receives the media exposure event from the streaming meter.
- An example apparatus disclosed herein to monitor streaming media content includes a flag detector to determine if a streaming media flag is asserted in the content of a watermark associated with a media exposure event, the media exposure event being included in panel data from a panel meter, the panel meter to monitor a media presentation device via an audio output channel of the media presentation device.
- A media exposure event is the data collected when media is presented on a media presentation device. Media exposure events include, but are not limited to, metering data (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identify presented media), and/or application usage information (e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use of the application, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or user-identifying information (e.g., demographic information, a user identifier, a panelist identifier, a username, etc.), and/or presentation information (e.g., the time/date the content was presented, the location the content was presented, the device type the content was presented on, etc.).
- The example apparatus also includes a data selector to, when the streaming media flag is asserted, discard/not use media exposure events associated with the streaming media flag from the panel data and select/use media exposure events from network traffic reports to credit media presented by the media presentation device, the network traffic reports obtained from a meter that monitors network traffic to and from the media presentation device. In further examples, a report generator creates media exposure reports using the selected media exposure events from the network traffic reports. The report generator may also use census data (e.g., user-identifying information) included in the panel data to verify census reporting.
- In some examples, the flag detector additionally includes locating the first streaming media flag in an unused final distribution code slot of the media exposure watermark associated with a media exposure event. In further examples, the media exposure watermarks in the audio data that is output from the audio output channel are in a first watermarking layer, and the asserted streaming media flag is located in a watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer.
- In some examples, the apparatus additionally includes a second streaming media flag that is located in the network traffic reports. In further examples, the second streaming media flag is included in an ID3 tag in the network traffic reports. In some examples, the media presentation device is an over the top (OTT) device.
- Turning to the figures, a block diagram of an
example system 100 for monitoring streaming media content is illustrated inFIG. 1 . Theexample system 100 includes example content provider(s) 105, anexample compression gear 110, an example segmenter andpackager 115, anexample transcoder 120, an exampledigital rights manager 125, anexample content streamer 130, anexample network 135, anexample location 140, anexample gateway 145, two examplemedia presentation devices example streaming meter 155, an example ondevice meter 158, twoexample panel meters media monitoring facility 165. - The example content provider(s) 105 provide the streaming media content to the
example compression gear 110. The content provider(s) 105 of the illustrated example correspond to any one or more content providers capable of providing media content for streaming to theexample compression gear 110. The media content provided by the content provider(s) 105 can be any type of media content, such as audio content, video content, multimedia content, etc. Additionally, the media content can correspond to live (e.g., broadcast) media content, stored media content (e.g., on-demand content), etc. In some examples, the media provided by the content provider(s) 105 may include watermarks embedded in the video or audio content of the media. The watermark content or payload may identify the media content, identify a source of the media content, and/or otherwise describes and/or is associated with the media content. - The
compression gear 110 employs any appropriate technique(s) to compress and/or otherwise process the received media content into a form suitable for streaming. For example, thecompression gear 110 may compress the media content in accordance with MPEG 4 audio/video compression. The segmenter andpackager 115 employs any appropriate technique(s) to segment and package the compressed media content into a form suitable for streaming. For example, the segmenter andpackager 115 can segment and package the compressed media content into one or more MPEG 2 transport streams for streaming using HTTP live streaming (HLS) or any other past, present and/or future, streaming protocol. - In the illustrated example, the
example transcoder 120 receives the transport streams from the example segmenter andpackager 115 and extracts, from the media content, metering data that is encoded in a first format. For example, the metering data may be in the payload of watermarks that are already embedded/encoded in the media content. For example, thetranscoder 120 can obtain and extract embedded/encoded audio/video watermarks that were inserted into the media content by the content provider(s) 105. The embedded/encoded audio/video watermarks correspond to the metering data. The metering data identifies the media content, identifies a source of the media content, and/or otherwise describes and/or is associated with the media content. - The
transcoder 120 asserts a streaming media flag in the metering data that is in the first format. The streaming media flag indicates that the media is being distributed as streaming media. The streaming media flag may be asserted in any manner, for example setting a bit to a one or zero in the metering data. - In some examples, the streaming media flag is in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark already included in the metering data that is in the first format. In other examples, the streaming media flag is in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data. For example, the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data may be in a first watermarking layer using a first set of frequency bands and the second watermark with the streaming media flag may be in a second watermarking layer using a second set of frequency bands. The transcoder embeds/encodes the watermark with the asserted streaming media flag back into the audio data of the media content.
- The
transcoder 120 transcodes the metering data in the first format into text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to metering data in a second format. In some examples, thetranscoder 120 may insert a streaming media flag into the text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to the metering data in the second format, such that a streaming meter can identify the streaming media flag. Thetranscoder 120 then encodes the transcoded metering data (which is in the second format that is decodable by streaming meters) into a metadata channel associated with the transport stream(s) that is(are) to carry the streaming media content. - In some examples, the
transcoder 120 is implemented as a plug-in based on a software development kit (SDK) provided by the entity that embedded the audio/video watermarks in the media content. In such examples, thetranscoder 120 can employ functionality provided by the SDK to extract and decode audio/video watermark(s) embedded in the media content to obtain the payload data carried by the watermark(s) and insert and encode audio/video watermark(s) that include the asserted streaming media flag into the media content. In some examples, in accordance with one or more versions of the ID3 tagging standards, thetranscoder 120 inserts the payload data obtained from the watermark(s) as ID3 tag metadata and/or other metadata in the transport stream(s) that is (are) to stream the media content in accordance with the HLS or other appropriate streaming protocol. Another example implementation of thetranscoder 120 is illustrated inFIG. 2 , which is described in greater detail below. - In some examples, the
transcoder 120 is implemented as a plug-in or other application/device associated with or executed by one or more of thecompression gear 110, the segmenter andpackager 115, thedigital rights manager 125 and/or thecontent streamer 130. In some examples, thetranscoder 120 is implemented by an apparatus separate from thecompression gear 110, the segmenter andpackager 115, thedigital rights manager 125 and thecontent streamer 130 - The
digital rights manager 125 encrypts and/or otherwise protects, in accordance with any appropriate digital rights management technique and/or protocol, the media content to be streamed. Thecontent streamer 130 employs any appropriate technique(s) to select and stream the media content to a requesting device. For example, thecontent streamer 130 can select media content that has been MPEG 4 compressed, segmented and packaged into one or more MPEG 2 transport streams, and encrypted for digital rights management, and then stream the content, acrossnetwork 135, tolocation 140 using HLS or any other streaming protocol. - In some examples, the
compression gear 110, the segmenter andpackager 115 and/or thedigital rights manager 125 prepare content for streaming regardless of whether (e.g., prior to) a request is received. In such an example, thecontent streamer 130 prepares a transport stream for streaming the already-prepared content when a request is received fromlocation 140. In other examples, thecompression gear 110, the segmenter andpackager 115 and/or thedigital rights manager 125 prepare the content for streaming in response to a request received fromlocation 140. -
Location 140 may be a home, an office, a restaurant, or any place media can be presented.Location 140 includes agateway 145 that receives the streaming media fromcontent streamer 130. In some examples,gateway 145 distributes the streaming media to one or more of the twomedia presentation devices gateway 145 may us a wired connection (e.g. a LAN connection) to distribute streaming media to one or more of the twomedia presentation devices - The
media presentation devices content streamer 130 via thenetwork 135. Themedia presentation devices media presentation devices media presentation devices content streamer 130. For examples, the media player(s) available to themedia presentation devices media presentation devices system 100. -
Location 140 includes anexample streaming meter 155 that monitors the network communications of the two examplemedia presentation devices meter 155 monitors a home wireless networks (e.g., WiFi networks, etc.) to generate media exposure events of streamed media presented at the two examplemedia presentation devices streaming meter 155 may monitor a local area network (LAN) that couples thegateway 145 to themedia presentation devices media presentation devices - The
streaming meter 155 of the illustrated example decodes metering data included in a metadata channel (or channels) associated with (e.g., provided prior to or accompanying and flowing with) the transport channel(s) providing the streaming media content to themedia presentation devices streaming meter 155 can correspond to an external metadata channel external to the transport stream carrying the media content, or an internal metadata channel comprising one or more data fields of the transport stream carrying the media content. An example external metadata channel includes an M3U file or other text file associated with a transport stream carrying the streaming media content and containing metering data transcoded by thetranscoder 120 into a text or other appropriate data format. In some examples, such as an example employing the HLS protocol, thestreaming meter 155 extracts and decodes ID3 tag(s) that contain the metering data. Thestreaming meter 155 of the illustrated example stores the decoded metering data (as well as any other metering information captured by the streaming meter, timestamps added by thestreaming meter 155 to the decoded metering data and/or the other metering information, etc.) for reporting to themedia monitoring facility 165. In the illustrated example, thestreaming meter 155 reports its stored metering data (as well as any other metering information, timestamps, etc.) using an HTTP request sent to an HTTP interface of themedia monitoring facility 165. An example implementation of thestreaming meter 155 is illustrated inFIG. 3A , which is described in greater detail below. - In some examples, the
media presentation devices 150A and/or 150B may include an on device meter, for example ondevice meter 158. The on device meter may also be used to detect the presentation of streaming media on a media presentation device. However, unlike thestreaming meter 155, the ondevice meter 158 only monitors the media presentation device on which it is installed. The ondevice meter 158 is software/firmware that executes on a media presentation device, for examplemedia presentation device 150A. The ondevice meter 158 tracks the network communications ofmedia presentation device 150A. The ondevice meter 158 of the illustrated example decodes metering data included in a metadata channel (or channels) associated with (e.g., provided prior to or accompanying and flowing with) the transport channel(s) providing the streaming media content to themedia presentation device 150A. For example, a metadata channel decoded by the ondevice meter 158 can correspond to an external metadata channel external to the transport stream carrying the media content, or an internal metadata channel comprising one or more data fields of the transport stream carrying the media content. An example external metadata channel includes an M3U file or other text file associated with a transport stream carrying the streaming media content and containing metering data transcoded by thetranscoder 120 into a text or other appropriate data format. In some examples, such as an example employing the HLS protocol, the ondevice meter 158 extracts and decodes ID3 tag(s) that contain the metering data. The ondevice meter 158 of the illustrated example stores the decoded metering data (as well as any other metering information captured by the on device meter, timestamps added by the ondevice meter 158 to the decoded metering data and/or the other metering information, etc.) for reporting to themedia monitoring facility 165. In the illustrated example, the ondevice meter 158 reports its stored metering data (as well as any other metering information, timestamps, etc.) using an HTTP request sent to an HTTP interface of themedia monitoring facility 165. - The
example system 100 includespanel meters location 140 that monitor the audio output channels of respective examplemedia presentation devices panel meters Panel meters presentation devices media presentation devices panel meters location 140, the date, etc. In some examples, when the asserted streaming media flag is detected, the media exposure events are sent to themedia monitoring facility 165, as describe more fully below with respect toFIG. 4 , acrossnetwork 135. In other examples, when the panel meters detect the asserted streaming media flag, thepanel meters media monitoring facility 165. An example implementation of thepanel meter 160A is illustrated inFIG. 3B , which is described in greater detail below. -
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of anexample transcoder 120 ofsystem 100 inFIG. 1 . Theexample transcoder 120 ofFIG. 2 includes an exampletransport stream decoder 205 to decode transport stream(s) carrying streaming media content to obtain the media content being streamed to themedia presentation devices transport stream decoder 205 can decode an MPEG 2 transport 2 encapsulating MPEG 4 compressed media content to obtain the encapsulated MPEG 4 content, and then perform MPEG 4 decompression to obtain the uncompressed audio/video content. - The
example transcoder 120 ofFIG. 2 also includes an examplemetering data extractor 210 to extract metering data having a first format from the uncompressed media content obtained from thetransport stream decoder 205. For example, themetering data extractor 210 can implement functionality provided by an SDK to extract one or more audio watermarks, one or more video (e.g., image) watermarks, etc., embedded in the uncompressed audio/video content obtained from thetransport stream decoder 205. (For example, the uncompressed audio/video content may correspond to uncompressed pulse code modulation (PCM) audio data or other types of audio data, uncompressed video/image data, etc.) To transcode the metering data in the first format obtained from themetering data extractor 210 to a second format decodable by thestreaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158, theexample transcoder 120 ofFIG. 2 further includes an examplemetering data transcoder 215. For example, themetering data transcoder 215 can determine (e.g., decode) the metering information (e.g., the watermark payload data, such as content identifying information, source identifying information, etc.) carried by a watermark extracted by themetering data extractor 210 and convert this metering information (also referred to as watermark payload data) into a text or binary format for inclusion in an M3U8 file or other data (e.g., text, binary, etc.) file for transmission as metadata (e.g., such as with a playlist or electronic program guide) accompanying the streaming media content. Additionally, or alternatively, themetering data transcoder 215 can convert the extracted metering information (i.e., watermark payload data) into a binary or other appropriate format for inclusion in one or more data fields capable of carrying metadata in the transport stream(s) providing the streaming media content to themedia presentation devices metering data transcoder 215 can convert watermark payload data corresponding to the metering information to ID3 tag metadata for insertion in the transport stream(s) that is (are) to stream the media content in accordance with the HLS or other appropriate streaming protocol. Other additional or alternative examples of transcoding that can be employed by themetering data transcoder 215 to transcode metering data into a format decodable by thestreaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158 are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,827,312 (“METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR TRANSCODING METADATA” to Ramaswamy et al.), which issued on Nov. 2, 2010, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/442,758 (“METHODS AND APPARATUS TO MONITOR MEDIA CONTENT AT A CONTENT DISPLAY SITE” to Deliyannis et al.), which was filed on Feb. 14, 2011, U.S. Pat. No. 9,210,208 (“EXTRACTING PRE-AUDITED METADATA FROM STREAMING MEDIA CONSUMED ON SOFTWARE ON A TABLET PLATFORM”), which issued on Dec. 30, 2011. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,827,312, 9,210,208 and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/442,758 are hereby incorporated by reference in their respective entireties. - In the illustrated example of
FIG. 2 , thetranscoder 120 includes aflag inserter 220. Theflag inserter 220 asserts a streaming media flag in the payload of a watermark included in the metering data that is in the first format. The asserted streaming media flag indicates that the media is being distributed as streaming media. In some examples, the streaming media flag is located in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark already included in the metering data that is in the first format. In other examples, the streaming media flag is located in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data. For example, the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data may be in a first watermarking layer using a first set of frequency bands and the second watermark with the streaming media flag may be in a second watermarking layer using a second set of frequency bands. - The streaming media flag can be asserted using any method, for example, setting a bit in the content of a watermark to a one or a zero. Once the streaming media flag has been asserted, the
flag inserter 220 embeds/encodes the watermark back into the audio data of the media, such that a panel meter can detect the asserted streaming media flag in the audio data of the media. - In some examples, the
flag inserter 220 may also assert a streaming media flag in the text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to metering data in the second format, such that thestreaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158 can also identify the streaming media flag. - Additionally, in some examples, the
transcoder 120 ofFIG. 2 includes an example metering data encryptor 225 that employs any appropriate encryption to encrypt the metering data determined by themetering data transcoder 215. For example, themetering data encryptor 225 can encrypt the metering data using public or private key encryption such that the decryption key(s) are known and protected by themedia monitoring facility 165. Inclusion of themetering data encryptor 225 can prevent unauthorized eavesdroppers from accessing the transcoded metering data identifying or otherwise associated with the streaming media content, thereby securing the privacy of users consuming the streaming media content. - In the illustrated example of
FIG. 2 , thetranscoder 120 includes an exampletransport stream encoder 230 to re-encode the transport stream(s) carrying the streaming media content to include the metering data determined by the metering data transcoder 215 (and encrypted by themetering data encryptor 225, as appropriate). For example, thetransport stream encoder 230 can encode the metering data into an external metadata channel, such as by encoding an M3U8 or other data file to contain the metering data and to be associated with (e.g., included in, appended to, sent prior to, etc.) the transport stream(s) that are to provide the streaming media content to themedia presentation devices transport stream encoder 230 can encode the metering data into an internal metadata channel, such as by encoding metering data that is in a binary or other appropriate data format into one or more data fields of the transport stream(s) that is(are) capable of carrying metadata. For example, thetransport stream encoder 230 can insert ID3 tag metadata corresponding to the metering data into the transport stream(s) that is (are) to stream the media content in accordance with the HLS or other appropriate streaming protocol. -
FIG. 3A is a block diagram of anexample streaming meter 155 fromsystem 100 ofFIG. 1 . In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3A , streamingmeter 155 includes anetwork traffic monitor 305A and a network traffic reporter 310A. In the illustrated example, thestreaming meter 155 generates records of network communications transmitted between the twomedia presentation devices gateway 145. In some examples, thestreaming meter 155 differentiates between the twomedia presentation devices - In the illustrated example, the communications between the two
media presentation devices gateway 145 are wireless communications snooped by a monitoring radio included in thenetwork traffic monitor 305A. In other examples, the communications transmitted between the twomedia presentation devices gateway 145 may be across a local area network (LAN) that thestreaming meter 155 is coupled with. Thestreaming meter 155 processes the monitored traffic to create records of the network traffic. In some examples, the network traffic reports include media exposure events. - The network traffic monitor 305 passes the network traffic reports to the network traffic reporter 310A. The network traffic reporter 310A sends the network traffic reports to the
media monitoring facility 165, as describe more fully below with respect toFIG. 4 . For example, the network traffic reporter 310A may generate a GET or POST request including the metering data as a parameter of the request. Alternatively, any other method of transmitting the network traffic reports to themedia monitoring facility 165 may be used. The network traffic reports may be transmitted at any interval. For example, the network traffic reports may be transmitted as it is collected (e.g., streamed), may be transmitted when a certain amount of network traffic reports is collected, when an available memory space is filled or reaches a threshold capacity (e.g., 90% or some other percentage being full), when a particular event is detected (e.g., when presentation of the media content ends, when new media content is presented, etc.), whenever new network traffic reports are obtained, etc. The network traffic reporter 310A may transmit a network traffic report once for each time media is presented or may transmit network traffic reports multiple times (e.g., every time an event occurs, every time identifying information changes (e.g., when the media content includes metering data that change throughout the media content, etc.). -
FIG. 3B is a block diagram of anexample panel meter 160A fromsystem 100 ofFIG. 1 .Panel meter 160A includes apanel data extractor 305B and apanel data reporter 310B. In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3B , thepanel data extractor 305B extracts the content of the payloads from watermarks embedded/encoded in the audio output from the audio output channel ofmedia presentation device 150A. Thepanel data extractor 305B creates media exposure events using the extracted content from the payloads from watermarks, for example metering data (e.g., media-identifying metadata, codes, signatures, watermarks, and/or other information that may be used to identify presented media), and/or application usage information (e.g., an identifier of an application, a time and/or duration of use of the application, a rating of the application, etc.), and/or user-identifying information (e.g., demographic information, a user identifier, a panelist identifier, a username, etc.), and/or presentation information (e.g., the time/date the content was presented, the location the content was presented, the device type the content was presented on, etc.). Thepanel data extractor 305B includes the media exposure events in the panel data. - The
panel data extractor 305B passes the panel data to thepanel data reporter 310B. Thepanel data reporter 310B sends the panel data to themedia monitoring facility 165. For example, thepanel data reporter 310B may generate a GET or POST request including the panel data as a parameter of the request. Alternatively, any other method of transmitting the panel data to themedia monitoring facility 165 may be used. The panel data may be transmitted at any interval. For example, the panel data may be transmitted as it is collected (e.g., streamed), may be transmitted when a certain amount of panel data is collected, when an available memory space is filled or reaches a threshold capacity (e.g., 90% or some other percentage being full), when a particular event is detected (e.g., when presentation of the media content ends, when new media content is presented, etc.), whenever new panel data are obtained, etc. Thepanel data reporter 310B may transmit panel data once for each media content or may transmit panel data multiple times (e.g., every time an event occurs, every time identifying information changes (e.g., when the media content includes metering data that change throughout the media content, etc.). -
FIG. 3C is a block diagram of an example ondevice meter 158 fromsystem 100 ofFIG. 1 . In the illustrated example ofFIG. 3A , ondevice meter 158 includes anetwork traffic monitor 305C and anetwork traffic reporter 310C. In the illustrated example, the ondevice meter 158 generates records of network communications transmitted between themedia presentation device 150A andgateway 145. - In the illustrated example, the communications between the
media presentation device 150A andgateway 145 is wireless communications. In other examples, the communications transmitted between themedia presentation device 150A andgateway 145 may be across a local area network (LAN). The ondevice meter 158 processes the monitored traffic to create records of the network traffic. In some examples, the network traffic reports include media exposure events. - The
network traffic monitor 305C passes the network traffic reports to thenetwork traffic reporter 310C. Thenetwork traffic reporter 310C sends the network traffic reports to themedia monitoring facility 165, as describe more fully below with respect toFIG. 4 . For example, thenetwork traffic reporter 310C may generate a GET or POST request including the metering data as a parameter of the request. Alternatively, any other method of transmitting the network traffic reports to themedia monitoring facility 165 may be used. The network traffic reports may be transmitted at any interval. For example, the network traffic reports may be transmitted as it is collected (e.g., streamed), may be transmitted when a certain amount of network traffic reports is collected, when an available memory space is filled or reaches a threshold capacity (e.g., 90% or some other percentage being full), when a particular event is detected (e.g., when presentation of the media content ends, when new media content is presented, etc.), whenever new network traffic reports are obtained, etc. Thenetwork traffic reporter 310C may transmit a network traffic report once for each time media is presented or may transmit network traffic reports multiple times (e.g., every time an event occurs, every time identifying information changes (e.g., when the media content includes metering data that change throughout the media content, etc.). -
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an examplemedia monitoring facility 165 ofsystem 100 fromFIG. 1 . In the illustrated example ofFIG. 4 , themedia monitoring facility 165 includes anexample data collector 405, anexample flag detector 410, anexample data selector 415 and anexample report generator 420. Theexample data collector 405 receives the network traffic reports from the network traffic reporter 310A of thestreaming meter 155 ofFIG. 3A . Theexample data collector 405 passes the network traffic reports to theexample flag detector 410. Although only one monitored location is shown inFIG. 1 (e.g., location 140), theexample data collector 405 may receive network traffic reports from multiple network traffic reporters in different locations. - The
example data collector 405 also receives the panel data from the examplepanel data reporter 310B of theexample panel meter 160A ofFIG. 3B . Theexample data collector 405 may also receive panel data frompanel meter 160B. Theexample data collector 405 passes the panel data to theexample flag detector 410. Although only one monitored location is shown inFIG. 1 (e.g. location 140), theexample data collector 405 may receive panel data from multiple panel data reporters in different locations. - The
example data collector 405 also receives the network traffic reports from the example ondevice meter 158 ofFIG. 1 . Theexample data collector 405 passes the network traffic reports to theexample flag detector 410. Although only one monitored location is shown inFIG. 1 (e.g., location 140), theexample data collector 405 may receive network traffic reports from multiple on device meters in different locations. - The
example flag detector 410 receives the network traffic reports and the panel data from theexample data collector 405. As explained above, theexample flag detector 410 may receive network traffic reports and panel data from multiple locations. Theexample flag detector 410 sorts the receive network traffic reports and the panel data by location. In some examples, the location of the network traffic reports can be determined using the identity of thestreaming meter 155 and/or the identity of the ondevice meter 158, and the location of the panel data can be determined by the location of the panel meter reported in the panel data. Any other means for determining the locations of the streaming meter and the panel meter may be used. - In some examples, the
flag detector 410 determines that a streaming meter and/or an on device meter is located at the same location as a panel meter. When a panel meter is at the same location as a streaming meter and/or an on device meter, theexample flag detector 410 may receive a media exposure event from the streaming meter and/or an on device meter, and a panel meter. A streaming meter and an on device meter only monitors media that is streamed to media presentation devices. A panel meter can monitor media that is streamed to a media presentation device and media that is broadcast to the media presentation device. As such, streaming media events that are monitored by the panel meter may also be monitored by a streaming meter and/or an on device meter at the same location. For example,flag detector 410 may receive a media exposure event included in the network traffic reports from theexample streaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158 when monitoring themedia presentation device 150A when it is presenting streaming media. Theflag detector 410 may also receive a media exposure event included in the panel data from theexample panel meter 160A when monitoring themedia presentation device 150A when it is presenting streaming media. - In some examples, the
flag detector 410 determines if the panel data for a media exposure event includes an asserted streaming media flag. The asserted streaming media flag indicates that the media corresponding to the media exposure event was streamed to the media presentation device. In some examples, the streaming media flag may be located in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark included in the panel data. In other examples, the streaming media flag may be located in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark. Theexample flag detector 410 sends an indication that an asserted streaming media flag associated with a media exposure event was detected, to thedata selector 415. - In the illustrated example of
FIG. 4 , theexample data selector 415 discards/does not use the media exposure events from the panel data when the streaming media flag is asserted in the panel data for the media exposure event and a streaming meter and/or an on device meter is at the same location as the panel meter. In some examples, theexample data selector 415 sends the census data from the panel meter for the media exposure event to thereport generator 420 even though the media exposure event was discarded/not used. The census data may be used to verify census reports. - The
data selector 415 passes the media exposure events from the network traffic report to the report generator. Theexample data selector 415 does not discard media exposure events from the panel data when a streaming media flag is not asserted in the panel data for the media exposure event. Instead, theexample data selector 415 passes the media exposure events from the panel data to the report generator. - In the illustrated example of
FIG. 4 , theexample report generator 420 receives the media exposure events, as well as any census data, from thedata selector 415. The report generator creates reports of media presented at the different monitored locations. The reports may be created daily, weekly, monthly, or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for a report. - While an example manner of implementing the media monitoring facility of
FIG. 1 is illustrated inFIG. 4 , one or more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated inFIG. 4 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way. Further, theexample data collector 405, theexample flag detector 410, theexample data selector 415, theexample report generator 420 and/or, more generally, the examplemedia monitoring facility 165 ofFIG. 4 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of theexample data collector 405, theexample flag detector 410, theexample data selector 415, and theexample report generator 420 and/or, more generally, the examplemedia monitoring facility 165 could be implemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s), programmable controller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example,data collector 405, theexample flag detector 410, theexample data selector 415, and theexample report generator 420 is/are hereby expressly defined to include a non-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. including the software and/or firmware. Further still, the examplemedia monitoring facility 165 ofFIG. 4 may include one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, those illustrated inFIG. 4 , and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustrated elements, processes and devices. As used herein, the phrase “in communication,” including variations thereof, encompasses direct communication and/or indirect communication through one or more intermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g., wired) communication and/or constant communication, but rather additionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals, scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events. - A flowchart representative of example hardware logic, machine readable instructions, hardware implemented state machines, and/or any combination thereof for implementing the
media monitoring facility 165 ofFIG. 1 is shown inFIG. 4 . The machine readable instructions may be an executable program or portion of an executable program for execution by a computer processor such as theprocessor 912 shown in theexample processor platform 900 discussed below in connection withFIG. 9 . The program may be embodied in software stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with theprocessor 912, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device other than theprocessor 912 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program is described with reference to the flowchart illustrated inFIG. 8 , many other methods of implementing the examplemedia monitoring facility 165 may alternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionally, or alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation without executing software or firmware. - As mentioned above, the example processes of
FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 may be implemented using executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. - “Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are used herein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim employs any form of “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises, includes, comprising, including, having, etc.) as a preamble or within a claim recitation of any kind, it is to be understood that additional elements, terms, etc. may be present without falling outside the scope of the corresponding claim or recitation. As used herein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in, for example, a preamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and “including” are open ended. The term “and/or” when used, for example, in a form such as A, B, and/or C refers to any combination or subset of A, B, C such as (1) A alone, (2) B alone, (3) C alone, (4) A with B, (5) A with C, (6) B with C, and (7) A with B and with C. As used herein in the context of describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. As used herein in the context of describing the performance or execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing the performance or execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B.
-
FIG. 5 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement theexample transcoder 120 ofFIG. 2 . With reference to the preceding figures, the example machinereadable instructions 500 ofFIG. 5 begin atblock 505 at which thetranscoder 120 receives a transport stream carrying media content to be streamed to themedia presentation devices block 510, thetransport stream decoder 205 of thetranscoder 120 decodes the transport stream to obtain the (e.g., uncompressed) media content being streamed to themedia presentation devices block 515, themetering data extractor 210 of thetranscoder 120 extracts metering data having a first format (e.g., such as one or more embedded audio/video watermarks) from the decoded (e.g., uncompressed) media content obtained atblock 510. Atblock 520, themetering data transcoder 215 of thetranscoder 120 transcodes the metering data in the first format obtained atblock 515 to form metering data having a second format (e.g., a text, binary or other data format) that is decodable by thestreaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158. Atblock 525, theflag inserter 220 of thetranscoder 120 inserts an asserted streaming media flag into the metering data that is in the first format. The streaming media flag indicates that the media is being distributed as streaming media. In some examples, theflag inserter 220 asserts the streaming media flag in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark already included in the metering data that is in the first format. In other examples, theflag inserter 220 asserts the streaming media flag in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer than the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data in a first watermarking layer. For example, the media exposure watermark already included in the metering data may be in a first watermarking layer using a first set of frequency bands and the second watermark with the streaming media flag may be in a second watermarking layer using a second set of frequency bands. Theflag inserter 220 embeds the watermark with the asserted streaming media flag back into the audio data of the media content. - In some examples, the
flag inserter 220 may insert a streaming media flag into text data, binary data, etc., that corresponds to metering data in the second format, such that thestreaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158 can identify the streaming media flag. Atblock 530, thetransport stream encoder 230 of thetranscoder 120 re-encodes the transport stream that is to carry the streaming media content to include the metering data in a metadata channel to be associated with the transport stream. Atblock 535, thetranscoder 120 sends the re-encoded transport stream (and the metadata channel carrying the transcoded metering data) to any other downstream processing elements for streaming to themedia presentation devices readable instructions 500 then ends. -
FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement theexample streaming meter 155 ofFIG. 3A . The example machinereadable instructions 600 ofFIG. 6 begin execution atblock 605 where thenetwork traffic monitor 305A of streamingmeter 155 monitors the network traffic betweengateway 145 and themedia presentation devices media presentation devices gateway 145 is a wireless network (e.g., WiFi networks, etc.). In other examples, thenetwork traffic monitor 305A may monitor a local area network (LAN) that couples thegateway 145 to themedia presentation devices - Flow continues at
block 610 where records of the network traffic that include the media data are sent to the network traffic reporter 310A of streamingmeter 155. Flow continues atblock 615 where the network traffic reporter 310A sends the network traffic reports to themedia monitoring facility 165. The network traffic reports may be sent to themedia monitoring facility 165 periodically (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for network traffic reports, the start or end of a media exposure event, or the like. Execution of the example machinereadable instructions 600 then ends. -
FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may also be executed to implement the example ondevice meter 158 ofFIG. 3A . The example machinereadable instructions 600 of FIG. 6 begin execution atblock 605 where thenetwork traffic monitor 305C of ondevice meter 158 monitors the network traffic betweengateway 145 and themedia presentation device 150A. In some examples, the network coupling themedia presentation device 150A togateway 145 is a wireless network (e.g., WiFi networks, etc.). In other examples, thenetwork traffic monitor 305C may monitor a local area network (LAN) that couples thegateway 145 to themedia presentation device 150A. - Flow continues at
block 610 where records of the network traffic that include the media data are sent to thenetwork traffic reporter 310C of ondevice meter 158. Flow continues atblock 615 where thenetwork traffic reporter 310C sends the network traffic reports to themedia monitoring facility 165. The network traffic reports may be sent to themedia monitoring facility 165 periodically (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for network traffic reports, the start or end of a media exposure event, or the like. Execution of the example machinereadable instructions 600 then ends. -
FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement theexample panel meter 160A ofFIG. 3B . The example machinereadable instructions 700 ofFIG. 7 begin execution atblock 705 where thepanel data extractor 305B ofpanel meter 160A monitors the audio output channel ofmedia presentation device 150A to capture panel data. The panel meter may monitor the audio output channel ofmedia presentation device 150A using a direct connection, or indirectly using a microphone. Thepanel data extractor 305B detects watermarks embedded in the audio output and extracts the watermark's payloads to include in the panel data. - Flow continues at
block 710 where panel data is sent to thepanel data reporter 310B ofpanel meter 160A. Flow continues atblock 715 where thepanel data reporter 310B sends the panel data to themedia monitoring facility 165. The panel data may be sent to themedia monitoring facility 165 periodically (e.g. hourly, daily, weekly, etc.), or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for panel data, the start or end of a media exposure event, or the like. Execution of the example machinereadable instructions 700 then ends. -
FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of machine readable instructions which may be executed to implement the examplemedia monitoring facility 165 ofFIG. 4 . The example machinereadable instructions 800 ofFIG. 8 begin execution atblock 805 where thedata collector 405 of themedia monitoring facility 165 obtains the network traffic reports from thestreaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158, and the panel data from thepanel meter 160A. Thedata collector 405 passes the network traffic reports and the panel data to theflag detector 410 of themedia monitoring facility 165. - Flow continues at
block 810 where theflag detector 410 of themedia monitoring facility 165 sorts the network traffic reports and the panel data by location. When a location includes a network traffic report and panel data, it indicates that the location includes both a streaming meter, forexample streaming meter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158, and a panel meter, forexample panel meters 160A and/or 160B. When a location includes both a streaming meter and a panel meter, flow continues at 820. Otherwise, when a location only has network traffic reports or panel data, but not both network traffic reports and panel data, it indicates a location that only has one type of meter, for example, a panel meter or a streaming meter. When a location only has one type of meter, the execution of the example machinereadable instructions 800 ends. - At
block 820 theflag detector 410 determines if the panel data, from the location, includes an asserted streaming media flag. In some examples, the streaming media flag may be located in an unused final distribution code slot of a media exposure watermark included in the panel data. In other examples, the media exposure watermark may be located in a first watermarking layer and the streaming media flag may be located in a second watermark in a second, different, watermarking layer. - When the
flag detector 410 detects an asserted streaming media flag, flow continues atblock 825 where thedata selector 415 discards the media exposure event from the panel data associated with the asserted streaming media flag. Because the panel data is from a location that has both types of meters, and the panel data has a streaming media flag, thedata selector 415 will have received duplicate media exposure events (e.g., a media exposure event from streamingmeter 155 and/or the ondevice meter 158, and a media exposure event frompanel meter 160A). In some examples, thedata selector 415 discards the duplicate media exposure event from the panel data and retains the media exposure event from the network traffic report. In other examples, thedata selector 415 may discard the duplicate media exposure event from the network traffic report and retain the media exposure event from the panel meter. - Flow continues at
block 830 where thedata selector 415 passes the media exposure event from the network traffic report from the location, to thereport generator 420 of themedia monitoring facility 165. In some examples, the census data from the media exposure event in the panel data is also passed to thereport generator 420, even though the media exposure event from the panel data is discarded. Thereport generator 420 may use the census data from the panel meter. For example, thereport generator 420 may use the census data to verify census reports. - Flow continues at
block 835 where thereport generator 420 generates media presentation reports. Thereport generator 420 may generate reports of media presented at the different monitored locations. Because the duplicate media exposure event from thepanel meter 160A was discarded, the reports will be more accurate than if the duplicate media exposure event had been retained/counted. The reports may be created daily, weekly, monthly, or at the occurrence of an event, for example a request for a report. The execution of the example machinereadable instructions 800 ends. - At
block 820, when theflag detector 410 does not detect an asserted streaming media flag, flow continues atblock 840. Panel data that does not contain a streaming media flag, or an asserted streaming media flag, indicates that the media was not streamed to the media presentation device, but instead was live (e.g., broadcast) media content, stored media content (e.g., on-demand content), etc. As such, neither thestreaming meter 155 or the ondevice meter 158 would detect the media exposure event. Therefore, the media exposure event in the panel data would not be a duplicate media exposure event. Therefore, atblock 840, thedata selector 415 passes the media exposure event from the panel data to thereport generator 420. Flow continues inblock 835 as described above. -
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of anexample processor platform 900 structured to execute the instructions ofFIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 to implement themedia monitoring facility 165 ofFIG. 4 . Theprocessor platform 900 can be, for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, a self-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, or any other type of computing device. - The
processor platform 900 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 912. Theprocessor 912 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, theprocessor 912 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs, or controllers from any desired family or manufacturer. The hardware processor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. In this example, the processor implements theexample data collector 405, theexample flag detector 410, theexample data selector 415, and theexample report generator 420. - The
processor 912 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 913 (e.g., a cache). Theprocessor 912 of the illustrated example is in communication with a main memory including avolatile memory 914 and anon-volatile memory 916 via abus 918. Thevolatile memory 914 may be implemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 916 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type of memory device. Access to themain memory - The
processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 920. Theinterface circuit 920 may be implemented by any type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, a universal serial bus (USB), a Bluetooth® interface, a near field communication (NFC) interface, and/or a PCI express interface. - In the illustrated example, one or
more input devices 922 are connected to theinterface circuit 920. The input device(s) 922 permit(s) a user to enter data and/or commands into the processor 1012. The input device(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voice recognition system. - One or
more output devices 924 are also connected to theinterface circuit 920 of the illustrated example. Theoutput devices 924 can be implemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emitting diode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystal display (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching (IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printer and/or speaker. Theinterface circuit 920 of the illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chip and/or a graphics driver processor. - The
interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example also includes a communication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, a modem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a network interface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via anetwork 926. The communication can be via, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, a satellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephone system, etc. - The
processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes one or moremass storage devices 928 for storing software and/or data. Examples of suchmass storage devices 928 include floppy disk drives, hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundant array of independent disks (RAID) systems, and digital versatile disk (DVD) drives. - The machine
executable instructions 932 ofFIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 may be stored in themass storage device 928, in thevolatile memory 914, in thenon-volatile memory 916, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD. - From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that discard duplicate media exposure events from locations that include both a streaming meter and a panel meter. The disclosed methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture improve the accuracy of using a computing device by removing duplicate media exposure events from media presentation reports. By removing duplicate media exposure events, the accuracy of the media presentation reports is increased. The disclosed methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture are accordingly directed to one or more improvement(s) in the functioning of a computer.
- Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent.
Claims (12)
Priority Applications (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US17/565,175 US11831949B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2021-12-29 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US18/489,121 US20240048801A1 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2023-10-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US16/224,533 US10805677B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2018-12-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US17/068,458 US11252469B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2020-10-12 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US17/565,175 US11831949B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2021-12-29 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Related Parent Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US17/068,458 Continuation US11252469B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2020-10-12 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Related Child Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US18/489,121 Continuation US20240048801A1 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2023-10-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
US20220124405A1 true US20220124405A1 (en) | 2022-04-21 |
US11831949B2 US11831949B2 (en) | 2023-11-28 |
Family
ID=71073170
Family Applications (4)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US16/224,533 Active 2038-12-19 US10805677B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2018-12-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US17/068,458 Active US11252469B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2020-10-12 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US17/565,175 Active US11831949B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2021-12-29 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US18/489,121 Pending US20240048801A1 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2023-10-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Family Applications Before (2)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US16/224,533 Active 2038-12-19 US10805677B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2018-12-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
US17/068,458 Active US11252469B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2020-10-12 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Family Applications After (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
US18/489,121 Pending US20240048801A1 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2023-10-18 | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
Country Status (6)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (4) | US10805677B2 (en) |
KR (1) | KR20210094596A (en) |
CN (1) | CN113348672B (en) |
DE (1) | DE112019006272T5 (en) |
GB (1) | GB2595073B (en) |
WO (1) | WO2020131738A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US10776798B2 (en) * | 2017-04-25 | 2020-09-15 | Comscore, Inc. | Device identification systems and methods |
US10805677B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2020-10-13 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
TWI707564B (en) * | 2019-11-01 | 2020-10-11 | 瑞昱半導體股份有限公司 | Wireless communication device and wireless communication method |
DE102022101495A1 (en) | 2021-03-24 | 2022-09-29 | Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. | MOBILE DEVICE, ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEM FOR POWERLINE COMMUNICATIONS |
US20240070239A1 (en) * | 2022-08-30 | 2024-02-29 | Nuance Communications, Inc. | System and Method for Watermarking Data for Tracing Access |
US20240107117A1 (en) * | 2022-09-28 | 2024-03-28 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to determine media viewing information for hybrid content delivery |
Citations (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20150016661A1 (en) * | 2013-05-03 | 2015-01-15 | Digimarc Corporation | Watermarking and signal recognition for managing and sharing captured content, metadata discovery and related arrangements |
US20190097904A1 (en) * | 2017-09-27 | 2019-03-28 | Johnson Controls Technology Company | Web services platform with nested stream generation |
US20200152213A1 (en) * | 2018-11-09 | 2020-05-14 | Citrix Systems, Inc. | Systems and methods for watermarking audio of saas applications |
Family Cites Families (26)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5748763A (en) | 1993-11-18 | 1998-05-05 | Digimarc Corporation | Image steganography system featuring perceptually adaptive and globally scalable signal embedding |
US6737957B1 (en) | 2000-02-16 | 2004-05-18 | Verance Corporation | Remote control signaling using audio watermarks |
US6725193B1 (en) | 2000-09-13 | 2004-04-20 | Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson | Cancellation of loudspeaker words in speech recognition |
US9711153B2 (en) | 2002-09-27 | 2017-07-18 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Activating functions in processing devices using encoded audio and detecting audio signatures |
KR20050106393A (en) | 2002-12-27 | 2005-11-09 | 닐슨 미디어 리서치 인코퍼레이티드 | Methods and apparatus for transcoding metadata |
KR20110068664A (en) | 2009-12-16 | 2011-06-22 | 주식회사 케이티 | Apparatus and method for contents integrated accounting |
US8898078B2 (en) | 2010-05-21 | 2014-11-25 | Microsoft Corporation | Scalable billing with de-duplication in aggregator |
US20120151079A1 (en) | 2010-12-13 | 2012-06-14 | Jan Besehanic | Methods and apparatus to measure media exposure |
US8809697B2 (en) | 2011-05-05 | 2014-08-19 | Carefusion 303, Inc. | Passive cooling and EMI shielding system |
CN103636147A (en) | 2011-05-17 | 2014-03-12 | 韦伯图纳公司 | System and method for scalable high-accuracy sensor and ID-based audience measurement system |
US9210208B2 (en) | 2011-06-21 | 2015-12-08 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Monitoring streaming media content |
US20130205314A1 (en) | 2012-02-07 | 2013-08-08 | Arun Ramaswamy | Methods and apparatus to select media based on engagement levels |
US9219559B2 (en) | 2012-05-16 | 2015-12-22 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and systems for audience measurement |
US20140282669A1 (en) * | 2013-03-15 | 2014-09-18 | F. Gavin McMillan | Methods and apparatus to identify companion media interaction |
US9697533B2 (en) | 2013-04-17 | 2017-07-04 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations |
US9560149B2 (en) * | 2013-04-24 | 2017-01-31 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to create a panel of media device users |
US9332035B2 (en) * | 2013-10-10 | 2016-05-03 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media |
US9953330B2 (en) * | 2014-03-13 | 2018-04-24 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods, apparatus and computer readable media to generate electronic mobile measurement census data |
US10810607B2 (en) * | 2014-09-17 | 2020-10-20 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to monitor media presentations |
US9548053B1 (en) | 2014-09-19 | 2017-01-17 | Amazon Technologies, Inc. | Audible command filtering |
US10147433B1 (en) * | 2015-05-03 | 2018-12-04 | Digimarc Corporation | Digital watermark encoding and decoding with localization and payload replacement |
US20160379235A1 (en) | 2015-06-26 | 2016-12-29 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to enable duplication correction for broadcast station audience measurement data |
US9691378B1 (en) | 2015-11-05 | 2017-06-27 | Amazon Technologies, Inc. | Methods and devices for selectively ignoring captured audio data |
US10204634B2 (en) | 2016-03-30 | 2019-02-12 | Cisco Technology, Inc. | Distributed suppression or enhancement of audio features |
AU2017302148A1 (en) | 2016-07-27 | 2019-01-31 | Verto Analytics Oy | Single-source cross-platform media measurement arrangement, device and related methods |
US10805677B2 (en) | 2018-12-18 | 2020-10-13 | The Nielsen Company (Us), Llc | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content |
-
2018
- 2018-12-18 US US16/224,533 patent/US10805677B2/en active Active
-
2019
- 2019-12-16 KR KR1020217018997A patent/KR20210094596A/en active Search and Examination
- 2019-12-16 DE DE112019006272.7T patent/DE112019006272T5/en active Pending
- 2019-12-16 GB GB2108670.7A patent/GB2595073B/en active Active
- 2019-12-16 WO PCT/US2019/066609 patent/WO2020131738A1/en active Application Filing
- 2019-12-16 CN CN201980090288.7A patent/CN113348672B/en active Active
-
2020
- 2020-10-12 US US17/068,458 patent/US11252469B2/en active Active
-
2021
- 2021-12-29 US US17/565,175 patent/US11831949B2/en active Active
-
2023
- 2023-10-18 US US18/489,121 patent/US20240048801A1/en active Pending
Patent Citations (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US20150016661A1 (en) * | 2013-05-03 | 2015-01-15 | Digimarc Corporation | Watermarking and signal recognition for managing and sharing captured content, metadata discovery and related arrangements |
US20190097904A1 (en) * | 2017-09-27 | 2019-03-28 | Johnson Controls Technology Company | Web services platform with nested stream generation |
US20200152213A1 (en) * | 2018-11-09 | 2020-05-14 | Citrix Systems, Inc. | Systems and methods for watermarking audio of saas applications |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
KR20210094596A (en) | 2021-07-29 |
GB202108670D0 (en) | 2021-08-04 |
US11252469B2 (en) | 2022-02-15 |
WO2020131738A1 (en) | 2020-06-25 |
US20240048801A1 (en) | 2024-02-08 |
US10805677B2 (en) | 2020-10-13 |
US20200195535A1 (en) | 2020-06-18 |
US11831949B2 (en) | 2023-11-28 |
CN113348672B (en) | 2023-06-09 |
US20210168445A1 (en) | 2021-06-03 |
GB2595073A (en) | 2021-11-17 |
CN113348672A (en) | 2021-09-03 |
GB2595073B (en) | 2022-10-26 |
DE112019006272T5 (en) | 2021-11-11 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
US11252062B2 (en) | Monitoring streaming media content | |
US11831949B2 (en) | Methods and apparatus to monitor streaming media content | |
US10687100B2 (en) | Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media | |
AU2014331927A1 (en) | Methods and apparatus to measure exposure to streaming media | |
AU2015252031B2 (en) | Monitoring streaming media content |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
FEPP | Fee payment procedure |
Free format text: ENTITY STATUS SET TO UNDISCOUNTED (ORIGINAL EVENT CODE: BIG.); ENTITY STATUS OF PATENT OWNER: LARGE ENTITY |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: DOCKETED NEW CASE - READY FOR EXAMINATION |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: THE NIELSEN COMPANY (US), LLC, NEW YORK Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:SMITH, KALE;ROPKE, BEN;SIGNING DATES FROM 20181217 TO 20181218;REEL/FRAME:058798/0519 |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: BANK OF AMERICA, N.A., NEW YORK Free format text: SECURITY AGREEMENT;ASSIGNORS:GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC;GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC;GRACENOTE, INC.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:063560/0547 Effective date: 20230123 |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: CITIBANK, N.A., NEW YORK Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC;GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC;GRACENOTE, INC.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:063561/0381 Effective date: 20230427 |
|
AS | Assignment |
Owner name: ARES CAPITAL CORPORATION, NEW YORK Free format text: SECURITY INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GRACENOTE DIGITAL VENTURES, LLC;GRACENOTE MEDIA SERVICES, LLC;GRACENOTE, INC.;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:063574/0632 Effective date: 20230508 |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: RESPONSE TO NON-FINAL OFFICE ACTION ENTERED AND FORWARDED TO EXAMINER |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE MAILED -- APPLICATION RECEIVED IN OFFICE OF PUBLICATIONS |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: PUBLICATIONS -- ISSUE FEE PAYMENT RECEIVED |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: AWAITING TC RESP, ISSUE FEE PAYMENT VERIFIED |
|
STPP | Information on status: patent application and granting procedure in general |
Free format text: PUBLICATIONS -- ISSUE FEE PAYMENT VERIFIED |
|
STCF | Information on status: patent grant |
Free format text: PATENTED CASE |